The Child
by LinariteLavanya
Summary: On his first mission since being abducted by Kolya, Sheppard hears crying and when he goes to check it out, he finds a wraith child. Instead of killing her, he takes her to Atlantis. ADOPTED BY ME FROM LOVELESS AN THE LIVING FANTASY. -ON TEMPORARY HIATUS-
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Ah, hello everyone! This LinariteLavanya, and I am re-posting and continuing loveless an the living fantasy's story _The Child_, which she has most kindly allowed me to adopt from her (Ray Anne you're the best. :D). The first few chapters are all her original work, with some minor grammar edits and whatnot; I'm just posting them again so that if you were following this story before you can re-read and refresh your memory before I continue onward. Also in case anyone new wants to follow the story. :D.**

**Also, I don't own SGA, or the Wraith, or anything from the show. I don't even originally own the cute little Wraith girl. :D  
><strong>

* * *

><p>John Sheppard thought this was going to be just an ordinary recon mission, the first he was assigned to after Kolya had kidnapped him and tortured him with a starving wraith. The Wraith who had ironically been the one to help him escape and who had even restored his life. In turn, John didn't kill him and had put him on a planet with other wraith. Ronon, of course, had been pissed that he let the wraith go. Teyla, Elizabeth, and Carson were just glad he was alive and youthful again. Rodney had thought the wraith made him look younger than he had been before he was captured.<p>

Putting the memories to the back of his mind, he used the tip of his gun to move some vines that were hanging in front of a cave. He'd heard crying coming from inside, and wanted to see the source. When he peered in he saw a pair of blue green cat like eyes peer up at him. He knew instantly that the creature in front of him was a wraith. The wraith looked at him with sadness as silver hair went in front of its eyes in an attempt to shield it from the inevitable. Sheppard raised his gun to shoot but suddenly the conversations he had had with the wraith from his imprisonment replayed in his mind and he cursed, finding himself unable to shoot. The wraith looked up in confusion, and stood up. At which point Sheppard saw it was just a little girl. The wraith stepped back, fright evident on her face as Sheppard lowered his gun, knowing that what he was about to do no one would ever forgive him for. Taking a deep breath, he smiled at the girl and said," I'm not going to hurt you."

The wraith just looked at him with more confusion as he held his hand out for her to take. She asked," Why?"

Sheppard sighed as he looked around hoping Ronon wouldn't pop up. He knew the wraith they were sent to kill on this mission had this little one's parents and she was only a child. She didn't need to kill humans for food, so he told himself that it was alright for him to adopt her. He said to the child, "My name is John Sheppard and I am not going to kill you because you're just a child. And I would _never_ harm a child, no matter the species."

She looked at him, her instincts telling her to run, but he was being so nice to her and she had heard her parents' dying screams earlier and knew that the man before her was her only means for survival.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: A huge thank you again to loveless an the living fantasy for letting me adopt this story. I'm so excited~**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Howdy, all. This is the second chapter of The Child. Like the last chapter, this one also came from the original "The Child", which I have adopted and will be continuing; all I did to this chapter was refine it a bit to make it flow better. :D**

**In any case, please review, or put the story on your alerts (especially if you were following the original), or favorite it or something. **

**Oh, and I own nothing from SGA. I don't even own the original idea for this story. :D**

* * *

><p>Sheppard was surprised when the child took his hand. Upon further inspection, she looked to be no more than five years old. He hoped she did not act like most Wraith or else making sure the others didn't kill her would be harder than he thought. He was wondering how to break the news to Ronon when a red beam went past the child's head. She shrieked in surprise and she hid behind Sheppard, who saw Ronon walk out of the forest, his eyes on the child behind him.<p>

Sheppard said in a determinedly careless way, "Watch where you're shooting that thing."

Teyla came up beside Ronon, saw the child who was cowering behind Sheppard and asked, "What is the meaning of this?".

Sheppard looked at them before saying, "Well, thought that since she was still just a child and all, that I couldn't just leave her. Wraith or not. Besides, Carson has been working on the retrovirus; if he completes it, we just inject her with it and we're safe."

Ronon was glaring at the girl, who was clearly scared. He was scarier than the queen, she thought. She hid even further behind Sheppard trying unsuccessfully not to be seen. From the look on the one called Ronon's face, he didn't like the idea that Sheppard had. She didn't like it either. Didn't she get a say in it? It was her life and body. Humans got mad at the Wraith for using people as test subjects but at least the Wraith let the people know that they cared nothing for them. This man is being nice to her , just so he could stab her in the back later! She was glad her father taught her how to fight.

Teyla looked at the child for a moment, she said," Dr. Weir will not be happy about this."

The child looked at Teyla closely, trying hard not to look at the scary man, who looked like he wanted to tear her apart limb by limb. She clutched Sheppard's pant leg in her tiny fists tightly. She wanted to hide. She was cowardly for a wraith child, and she knew it. Since she was the only female that had been born and one day would have to be in control a hive of her own, the Queen had forced her father to take her to the forest she was currently standing in. To learn from her father on how to be a wraith. Female Wraith were rare and the only reason her kind were surviving was because they made clones. Her father had made sure to explain what he thought was important for her to know. She knew everything about a hive ship and what was expected of her as a wraith. She knew that one day she would have to kill innocent people to live, but she didn't want to do that. the only thing that saved her from being killed by the Queen was the fact she was a female. She looked around, noticing that Teyla was talking into a communication device at the ring thing with blue in it. She never did find out what it was called. She tugged on Sheppard's pant leg a little.

Sheppard stumbled a bit as he felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down to see the child looking up at him with curious eyes. "What?" he asked.

He saw her point to the Stargate and ask," What is that?"

Ronon growled; mad that Sheppard was forcing him to let one of his greatest enemy live," None of your business."

Sheppard glared at his friend as he noticed the girl started to look sad and said, "That's what we call a Stargate and Ronon here is what we call cranky."

The girl looked at Ronon who was throwing her a ' I am going to kill you' glare. She then looked back to Teyla who seemed to have come to some sort of agreement with the person on the other end. She turned to them and said," Dr. Weir is wary about letting her come to Atlantis but she can come on three conditions."

Sheppard looked at the confused wraith and then at Teyla and said," Okay, what are the conditions?"

Teyla sighed as she said," You are to supervise her at all times."

Sheppard ignored the indignant look from the child as he said," Okay."

Teyla rolled her eyes at him and continued," You are to get rid of her if she causes a problem."

The child shuddered at what those words implied as Sheppard interrupted again as he said," No problem."

Teyla gave him a glare as she said," Let me finish at least! The last condition is Carson can use her to test his retrovirus."

Sheppard gave her a disbelieving look as he asked," Are you sure that was Elizabeth you talked to and not Rodney? They _are_ both pretty high pitched you know. That's inhumane. She's just a kid. What if she turns out to be like Ellie?"

Ronon twirled his gun before a little and said, "Then we kill her."

Sheppard looked at them disbelievingly for a moment and said," She's just a child. Would you really kill an innocent child?"

Teyla glanced at the girl who was shivering with fear," She won't be a child for long, John. She will grow and kill just like any other wraith."

Sheppard answered as they made their way to the Stargate," That's were Beckett and his retrovirus comes in."

Before they walked through Sheppard looked down at the child and asked," What's your name?"

She was told to never give her name out to anyone but a fellow wraith. Giving your name for a wraith meant you trusted the person with your life and she was not about to trust him, especially if he was going to willingly let her be experimented on. And she was _never_ going to trust the Ronon guy. She may trust Teyla, but the woman was avoiding her like a disease. She didn't answer his question only looked up at him.

Sheppard sighed as he said," I'm pretty certain wraith don't have names. I am going to call you..."

He then got a better look at the child. She reached almost but not quite to his waist. She had long platinum silver hair that reached her lower back, green cat like eyes with the pupil surrounded by blue. She had a tattoo in the shape of a rose that went around her right eye and a swirl around her left. She was the first female wraith he had seen with tattoos. Sheppard smiled as he said," I am going to call you Rose."

Rose's eyes went wide as she realized how close to her real name he had come to. She was the first female Wraith to have silver hair, and tattoos. Males usually had those characteristics. The other Wraith had often made fun of her it. She shook all of that off as she stepped into the Stargate along with everyone else.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Thoughts? Good, bad? Review, and let me know. You'll get a personal thank you on my profile page. :D. Next chapter will be up very soon, I'm just doing the last few edits and grammar checks and whatnot. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here's the third chapter! Once again, this chapter was originally written by this story's original author; I just edited and refined it a bit. No worries though, for all of you who have read the beginning of the story already. New new chapters will coming soon. :D **

* * *

><p>Rose stepped through the Stargate and into a huge room. Across from the stargate there were stairs leading up to an area where people were at computers; but instead of typing however, they were staring at her. She felt scared as they glared at her, making her want to run and hide. She walked beside Sheppard trying not to get too far away from him, in case someone was to attack her. Rose noticed Ronon that was still watching her with his hand on his gun while walking beside Teyla ,who was also watching. Rose noticed that Teyla at least tried to hide the fact that she was watching her, though it didn't help her feel any intimidated.<p>

Rose looked at her surroundings, noticing how everyone looked either angry or frightened. The ones who were angry looked like they were going to tear her apart, while the scared ones walked off in a hurry, As she looked over all of them, her eyes landed on a woman with brown curly hair on the balcony as everyone walked towards the woman. Leaving Rose in front of the stairs, who didn't to go near the people who looked angry. She didn't let her guard down for a minute; as the people talked to the woman, Rose realized she was their Queen, that the woman who was talking angrily to Sheppard was the one in charge and if she wanted to could easily order her execution. The woman pointed to Rose in an angry way as she continued to talk with Sheppard. Rose froze, not daring to move or breath too much, in case the woman's attention went to her. The people that stayed in the room were whispering amongst themselves, as the wraith child continued to look around. From their viewpoint, she looked scared but they couldn't care less; after all, her kind had killed billions without mercy or regret. Eventually, the people continued working, sending disgusted and angry glares at the child the whole time, as she continued looking around fearfully, as though they were the ones to be frightened of.

Meanwhile…

Elizabeth looked furious. "What made you think it was safe to bring a wraith child here?" she demanded angrily.

Sheppard didn't even flinch at her tone of voice as he said," I couldn't just leave her, it would be like leaving an abandoned puppy to die."

Elizabeth ran a hand through her hair and sighed in exasperation, "She is not a pet,John. We can't adopt any Wraith child that comes our way, You better make sure she doesn't harm anyone here."

Sheppard was still unfazed as he said, " She's a child. What can she do?"

Elizabeth looked like she wanted to hit him as she said," She is not just _any_ child. She is a _Wraith_. She may seem harmless right now, but wait until she gets older and see if you think she's harmless when she has her hand on your chest, killing you."

She started walking towards the child to get a better look as Sheppard ran after her saying, "Already had that happen, you'll notice that I'm still alive."

Elizabeth ignored him as she got to Rose ,who was scared that the leader had decided to talk to her. She ran behind Sheppard's leg and peeked at Elizabeth.

Elizabeth looked at the Wraith child with interest; she knelt and smiled at the child, pretending to be nice. She saw no need to be rude to a child that looked like she was going to either cry or pass out from fright. She smiled as she said," Welcome to Atlantis."

Rose came from behind Sheppard, still wary, as she smiled back at her and said," Thank you."

Elizabeth continued acting nice, but vowed that later she was going to yell at Sheppard some more. To Rose she said," Call me Elizabeth or Dr. Weir."

Rose nodded her head, her silver hair almost hitting Weir in the face, Rose then looked up at Weir her big green eyes filling up with tears as she asked," What is going to happen to me?"

Elizabeth stood up and said, "You will be looked after by Sheppard until we can think of something."

Rose did not like Elizabeth already, the woman didn't seem to care about her and she could tell that Elizabeth's niceness had been faked, and that she was just like the other people. Hating how she was treated differently than everyone else around her, Rose couldn't help herself as Sheppard led her towards the room she would be staying in,

"Don't judge an entire species by the way a few of them act. There is much about Wraith that you do not know."

Sheppard looked down at Rose and for a moment she had reminded him of the Wraith he called Todd, the Wraith that had helped him escape from Kolya. Elizabeth and everyone else just looked surprised. As Sheppard was leading Rose away, the Wraith girl heard Ronon mutter, "Yeah right."

Rose ignored Ronon as she followed Sheppard, keeping a hold of his pant leg. She had never felt so scared before in her entire life, unless you counted the time she had accidentally stumbled into a human village for the first time when her hive had landed. The villagers had tried to kill her, but her father had heard her when she screamed. She had never been really good at communicating telepathically, but her father had said when she grew older she would understand how to use her mind for talking and making humans and Wraith alike submit to her will. Her father had saved her from the villagers and out of anger had killed the whole village, though she was punished also. Her father had been strict; it didn't help that Wraith were taught at a young age to never show emotion, because there is a time when Wraith need to be strong and if they were weaklings growing up then they would be weak for the rest of their existence.

She was brought out of her thoughts as she accidentally bumped into someone that had a weird voice. She cringed waiting to be hit or yelled at. Instead the man laughed like she had told a joke instead of colliding with him. Humans confused her. The man said," Sorry, lass, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Rose looked at Sheppard, hoping he would answer for her. He only nudged her forward, so she said in a quiet voice, "It's okay."

She then hid behind Sheppard again. But Carson, kind by nature to all living things, reassured her. "I am not going to hurt you. My name's Carson."

Rose looked out from behind Sheppard's leg; she was still too scared to move from behind him as she said, "Mine is Rose. It's nice to meet you Carson."

Carson smiled at her and said," I'll see you later to make sure that don't have any diseases that can be passed on to any one else."

After that, Sheppard showed her where she would be staying, then took her to the dining hall. When she arrived everyone else in the room left, except for a few people who simply glared at her. She felt tears gather in her eyes. She was so scared of the people who were glaring at her. She just hoped they weren't armed. Sheppard left her at a table as he went to get her some food. She slid under the table so the people couldn't see her and so she couldn't see their angry glares. When Sheppard came back he asked, "What are you doing under the table?"

Rose peeked out from under it to look at him as she whispered," The people were glaring at me and I got scared so I hid."

Sheppard set her dinner down, and then motioned for her to get in her chair, which she did. "You sure are cowardly for a Wraith," he muttered.

Rose glared at him as she looked down at her food and wrinkled her nose, poking a piece of meat with her finger. "Eww. I don't eat meat."

Sheppard only stared at her as he started to eat.

Rose picked through her food and finally said," What is this stuff! I have never seen food like this!"

"It's what people on my planet eat."

Rose looked down at her food. Chicken, mashed potatoes, and corn. "I bet people on your planet are fat."

Sheppard said," I bet there are plenty of fat Wraith."

Rose looked at the silver ware Sheppard was using and looked at hers which was still in the plastic. She shook the plastic, and after a minute of hassle she finally got them out and poked the white substance which Sheppard called mashed potatoes. She quickly figured out how to use the silver ware and picked up some mashed potatoes and ate a little. She grimaced as she said," I don't see how you humans survive on this stuff! It's disgusting."

Sheppard looked at her with no expression. "Just eat it."

Rose looked at the mashed potatoes with distaste, and decided to try the yellow vegetable. She scooped some up and put it in her mouth. She liked that better than the potatoes, and soon the corn was gone. Once the corn was gone, she looked around for the first time. The room wasn't as big as the room the Stargate was in but still a decent size. She had a sudden urge to explore, but she was too scared of the people.

Sheppard got up and said, "It's time for you to go to bed. I'll show you around tomorrow."

Rose glared at his back, angry that he thought he could boss her around. "Fine." she said grumpily.

She followed Sheppard to her room. She knew she was going to be locked in and , just as she had expected, as soon as she stepped through the door, they locked her in. She sat on her bed not feeling tired at all, and glared at the wall the whole night.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: How was it? Chapter 4 will be coming soon, I promise. :D** **And after chapter 4 it'll be all my work. I'm so nervous.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Greetings, all! I present to you Chapter 4 of The Child. This is the last one that was originally written by **_**loveless an the living fantasy**_**; all chapters after this one are going to be mine….gah, I'm so nervous. **

**But anyway, enjoy the chapter, and make sure to add The Child to your alerts, if you haven't already. Because starting chapter 5 onward, it's all new~**

**Disclaimer: SGA isn't mine. Even the OC Rose isn't mine, she's **_**loveless**_**'s. I'm just writing the rest of the story. :D. **

* * *

><p>Rose turned towards the door as Sheppard came in, followed by an angry Ronon. Though she couldn't be sure whether he was <em>actually<em> angry or if that was his usual face. She noticed Teyla was there too. "Sheppard I thought it was just going to be you and me."

"I thought you three should get to know each other better. So instead of me leading you around, Ronon and Teyla are gonna do it. Don't kill each other."

Rose looked at him in disbelief, "Sheppard do you have your gun on you?"

Sheppard looked at her warily as he said, "Yes."

Rose rolled her eyes at the way he was acting and said," Might as well shoot me now. If you don't, I believe the big guy over there will." She looked pointedly at Ronon.

Sheppard patted Ronon on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry. He knows when to show restraint."

Rose muttered as Sheppard walked off, "Yeah. He shows restraint once the enemy is dead."

Ronon didn't say anything but he kept his hand on his gun and glared at her. Rose decided she would be safer walking beside Teyla. She could sense Teyla was uneasy being near her, but at the moment she didn't care. All Rose cared about was staying away from the person behind her, who clearly wanted to kill her. She looked around as they walked down the corridor. It was boring! No one was talking. She had no clue which room was which. Eventually Teyla led them into a room with people that were talking about things that confused her. She heard one almost bald person complaining about anything he could possibly think of. He was giving her a headache.

The man was arguing with another man who sometimes started saying things in another language. Rose sat in a chair that had wheels. She thought it was a weird chair and, curious, she decided that she'd ask Sheppard about it later. She started twirling the chair, and for a moment she forgot why she was in the room in the first place. Until she heard someone say in an obnoxious voice," Why is there a Wraith child here?"

Teyla answered in an almost bored voice," Colonel Sheppard found her and insisted that she come with us. He told us to show her around Atlantis. It seems he wants her to stay."

Rose found a lever thing on the bottom of the chair, and pulled it. The chair dropped down along with her. She yelped in surprise, getting everyone's attention.

The obnoxious man said as he shooed her out of the chair," Don't touch anything. You will either break it or ruin it."

Rose glared at him, If she had been human the glare wouldn't have been scary, but the silver hair, tattoos, and cat slit eyes unnerved him as she said, "Fine. I won't touch anything. Mr. Obnoxious Man."

The man glared back at her, but he looked pathetic in her opinion as he said," My name is Dr. Rodney McKay not Mr. Obnoxious Man."

Rose looked as though she was bored as she said, "But that name suits you better."

Rose looked around at all of the computers and people that had bad hair. It reminded her of the Wraith Scientists on her hive. They were always too busy thinking of new weapons. They never got out of the lab and always had messy hair and even to a Wraith had been weird. Rose asked (not expecting them to answer, but it wouldn't hurt to ask),"What is this room?"

Rodney, not paying attention, automatically answered," This is the Science department. A place were you are going to only visit this once."

Ronon frowned at him, not liking the fact that they had to tell her which rooms where which. And she liked it even less that he said she wouldn't be allowed back. He thought that Rose would do something to Atlantis, because she was a Wraith and they didn't care about anything but themselves. The child may be acting nice and polite to everyone. But in Rodney's opinion, she must be scheming behind their backs. Ronon's thoughts were the same. She seemed to be innocent and acted nice. But he was sure she was plotting something.

Rose looked over to Ronon and she could practically see him thinking. It must be a new experience for him, since he looked like he was in pain. She looked around and saw the glares and some people looked amused, she knew they were laughing at her because of the chair incident. She wanted to leave the Science Department she felt like she was being analyzed for some sort of experiment. She grabbed onto Teyla's hand and tried to pull her towards the door. Ronon got his gun out and pointed it at Rose who dropped Teyla's hand. Teyla snapped at Ronon," Ronon!"

Ronon glared at Rose and said," She might have been trying to lure you away to kill you."

Teyla didn't look convinced. She looked down at Rose to see her shaking like a leaf and asked ," What's the matter?". She may have hated the Wraith, but she justified her being nice to one as this one was a child; there would be plenty of time for being enemies once she was older.

Rose whimpered hiding her face with her hands, "This place is scary. I want to go now."

Teyla was kind of shocked that the little Wraith was so willing to show her emotions as Teyla said," Okay. We will next go to the infirmary. Carson wants to give you a check up."

Rose groaned hitting her head against Teyla's leg. She hated doctors of any sort. That meant needles. Needles were huge abominations made just to torture the patient. The first time she had gotten a shot was when she had been ill. It was extremely rare for a Wraith to get sick and whenever they did, they always got a shot. The needles weren't small either. She'd hidden in the cells where humans where kept for three hours before she was found.

When she had finally been caught they'd jabbed the needle in her arm, none too gently. After that she had always hated needles with a passion.

She was still amazed at the size of Atlantis and thought her ancestors were crazy to try and destroy such a beautiful place. she thought as she followed Teyla making sure Ronon was not near her, _My ancestors probably fed on one drug addict too many. That has to be the only reason to try and destroy such a beautiful place._

Teyla said as they stopped in front of a door, "This is the infirmary."

Rose nodded as they went inside. Again she got the feeling she was being analyzed by the doctors as they went to find the man with the funny accent. When they found him he was working on something. "Carson." Teyla said, "She is here for her check up."

Rose wanted to bolt as Carson looked up saying, "Alright. I need you to sit on the table over there."

Rose looked over to the table and tried to get up there. She tried several times before saying, "I am too short."

Carson saw the glare being sent her way by Ronon so he said as he lifted her, "That's okay."

She didn't expect Carson to lift her without hesitation. . Carson set her down gently on the table and said, "Lay down."

She had no choice but to obey the man and the table turned out to be a machine which he turned on, scaring her . She shot up, jumping down off the table and hid under the nearest table. Ronon was starting to think she wasn't a Wraith, by the way she ran off when something scared her.

She looked out from under the table. Her green eyes wide and on the verge of tears.

Carson asked her concern evident in his voice, "What's the matter?"

Rose spoke, her voice betraying just how scared she was, "That machine is scary."

Ronon said rather rudely," Is there anything you're not scared of?"

Rose glared at him, her tears falling from fright, "I am not scared of flowers."

Teyla said in disbelief looking at Rose who was wiping her eyes," You are scared of everything... But flowers?"

She looked a little embarrassed as she looked the other way mumbling," Yes.. I can't help it."

Carson tried to reassure her and get her out from under the table. "It's okay. The machine won't hurt you."

Rose scooted a little ways out from under the desk. Her leather pants were getting dirty. She hadn't changed since she was brought to Atlantis so she was still in her leather outfit. She asked, "Are you sure it wont hurt me?"

Ronon mumbled walking a little ways away, "Just what we need another Rodney McKay."

She glared at Ronon as she allowed Carson to put her back on the table. He turned it on and Rose forced herself to not run. After a minute he said," I can't really say if she is healthy, but I know that she's not carrying any illnesses."

Rose looked confused as she asked," How can you not tell if I am healthy?"

Carson said still looking at the results," I don't know much about the Wraith's anatomy."

Rose nodded and jumped off the table and asked," Can I go now?"

Carson nodded not saying a word as he continued to look over her results. She walked out, knowing they didn't trust her but were being polite since she was a kid. Even though she would think it wouldn't matter to them since she was a Wraith. She then snuck off and found a computer. She didn't know what made her do it, but she configured it to every three hours put a bulletin on everyone's screens saying some random things. She worked quickly though. Ronon would be sure to notice she was gone. She password protected it and went back. She breathed a sigh of relief when no one had noticed she was gone. She did not know how Ronon didn't notice, as he usually kept an eye on her. She was in a happy mood for the rest of the tour. When she saw Sheppard he was in the mess hall and she ran up to him and said," Hello."

Sheppard raised an eyebrow at her perkier than normal attitude and asked," What's got you all excited."

Rose smiled as she lied," I wasn't killed."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so…that's the last of the original chapters. Next time it'll be one of mine. And I am SO nervous about it. But I'm gonna do my very best to make sure everything from here on out is just as awesome as everything previously. :D In any case, reviews are always appreciated. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ah, my goodness, this is chapter 5 of The Child. Which means a lot of things…1) story's continuing onward from where **_**loveless**_** left it 2) everything from here on out is written by me, myself, and I. Oh, and this chapter is going to be extremely short, for reasons explained in the ending author's note. I apologize in advanc;l the next chapter'll be much longer. **

**Gah, I'm still SO nervous... Anyhow, review, and let me know what you think of this chapter. **

* * *

><p>"What the heck is going on with this thing?" John demanded, hitting his computer monitor.<p>

"Believe it or not, violently attacking it isn't going to help." McKay said dryly.

"Ugh." He smacked it again. "It just keeps bringing up these messages. The last one was something about a scuba diving resort?"

"What?" McKay looked over his shoulder. "That's an ad my sister sent me. From my personal files. What's it doing there?"

"How should _I_ know?" John rolled his eyes. "For what it's worth, stuff like this has been happened all morning."

"Alright, who's had computer access in the last twenty-four hours?"

It was the day after her medical check-up, and Rose was sitting in the mess hall, with Ronon keeping an eye on her while she ate. It was blueberry oatmeal and toast with orange juice, and she found that while the consistency of the oatmeal was too similar to the mashed potatoes for her liking, the blueberries in the oatmeal were good. She couldn't make up her mind whether or not she liked the toast or not, but she quickly discovered that her favorite part of the meal was the orange juice. She drank four glasses of it, ignoring Ronon's startled look (a look which still didn't vary much from his 'I'm going to shoot you' look; the only difference was widened eyes and a confused frown).

She was about to get up to refill her glass again when the man she'd dubbed Mr. Obnoxious Man stormed into the mess hall.

"McKay," Ronon nodded to the man. "Something wrong?""Wrong? _Wrong? _Yes, something's wrong. This little brat did something to our computers. Every time someone logs in, random files open up. Usually not from the user's system," he added darkly, glaring at Rose.

She stuck her tongue out at him, and McKay looked even more incensed than before.

"This is completely ridiculous! It's bad enough you're letting her run around Atlantis, is it too much to ask you watch her to make sure she doesn't break anything?"

Ronon just scowled. To Rose it looked as if he were being torn between his obligatory anger at Rose and amusement at McKay being so worked up over a kid.

"Well?" McKay demanded.

"You're a smart guy," Ronon said. "Don't tell me you can't undo it. She's just a kid," he added, smirking.

She made a face at him, but didn't say anything.

"Why should I have to fix it? She's the one who broke into the system!"

"I was bored!" she said defensively.

Ronon crossed his arms and looked at McKay. "You heard her."

The scientist threw his arms up. "This is ridiculous! I don't believe it."

"Somethin' wrong?" Sheppard asked, coming over. "You look a little worked up," he added to McKay.

"A little-! This brat hacked our computer system!" He stabbed a finger in Rose's direction.

John turned to look at the Wraith child. "Is that true?"

She shuffled her feet, not meeting his eyes. It felt like he was a gentler version of her father. "Maybe…"

"Rose?"

She flushed guiltily. "Yes."

"You realize that's a bad thing to do, right? No matter how much McKay deserves to be shown up-"

"Hey!"

"-hacking into the computer was wrong. Do you understand?"

She kicked the ground, still not looking up. "I guess so."

"Good. Now, can you put things back to the way they were?"

"Yes," she said quietly. She hesitated, then glanced up at him.

He smiled. "Good girl. Now, let's go. I want to see you fix something tat McKay can't."

"I never said I couldn't fix it!" McKay protested, trailing them down the hall.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, so it was very short, for which I am extremely sorry. But my life's been a touch hectic lately, and there's no more internet at my house so I'm having to bike to the library to get online. ^_^; As a result, I Haven't really had a chance to post chapters for any of my stories until now, and what I am posting is shorter than I'd like. I am REALLY sorry. But at least it's something right. **

**Anyways, feedback is, as always, very appreciated. Especially since this is the first chapter written just by me. *runs and hides* Be kind to me. XD**


End file.
